Chelsea have entered talks with yet another potential signing, and yet another youngster. Like Anthony Gordon in the summer, the Blues are looking to sign a talented English prodigy this time in former Spurs academy player, Noni Madueke.
At 20-years-old, Madueke has represented England’s U21s, played in the Conference and Europa League, and made nearly 80 appearances for PSV since making his debut in January 2020.
It’s a name some may even be familiar with, especially after Madueke was linked with various Premier League clubs in the summer of 2021. Since then though, he’s made just 22 league appearances, after suffering four separate muscle injuries in that time.
Madueke has also attracted negative attention off the pitch, after being caught driving with a fake licence in April 2022. It’s this, but mainly the injuries, that have led Chelsea fans to criticise this potential move.
So, are Christopher Vivell and Graham Potter targeting Madueke because he can impact the team now, or does this expose the current recruitment team of being guilty of a scattergun approach?
Who is Madueke?
Chukwunonso “Noni” Tristan Madueke was born in Barnet, North London in March 2002, and it wasn’t until primary school that Madueke started playing football. For international readers, that’s education for 7-11-year-olds, so a relatively late start for a London schoolboy.
Even though he convinced his parents to put him into a Sunday League team, it wasn’t with the intention of getting scouted. This didn’t put off Crystal Palace picking him up aged nine, and it kicked off what he later called the “best times” of his career so far.
The only downside was that Madueke was having to travel from North to South London every visit, and after three years he was poached by Tottenham Hotspur in 2013. Here Madueke’s talent exploded, and he was captain of the U16 side aged 15, where he scored 25 goals in his first 22 youth league games.
At this point, the youngster’s position hadn’t entirely been nailed down, as some described him as an attacking midfielder with good vision, but others coined him as a dribbling winger. What the young Englishman based his own analysis on was stats, telling Rising Ballers that “Something I’ll always live by: Stats speak.”
The only reason he ended up leaving Spurs and his other young talented friend in the academy, current Sporting winger Marcus Edwards, was the hunt for senior gametime. The idea of moving abroad didn’t scare his family, and when he rejected Manchester United for PSV in 2018, his mother moved with him to Eindhoven.
A key line, again from Rising Ballers, that explains Madueke’s mindset reads as: “In England, it was very difficult to get into the first team – especially at bigger clubs.
“The squads are very large, and there is little room for youngsters, they often stay in the reserve teams.
“There is little flow, or chance to break through.”
How has it gone at PSV?
Something striking about the city of Eindhoven is how different it is to busy, bustling Amsterdam. The lifestyle is more humble, with just 223,000 people living there, 150,000 less than Madueke’s home, the London borough of Barnet, today.
The De Herdgang training complex is world class too, with renovations that took place in the 2000s credited to Chelsea cult hero Guus Hiddink. It’s seen the likes of Ji Sung Park, Memphis Depay, Steven Bergwijn and more play there in the 21st century, and a key focus has been on making sure players are mentally capable of competing at a senior level by the age of 18.
The point is, Madueke has been in reliable, safe hands since he made the move abroad just under five years ago. This is before tackling his coaches, one being Ruud Van Nistlerooy at PSV U19, and the more experienced Peter Uneken at Jong PSV, playing in the second tier of Dutch Football in 2019/20.
Madueke was tearing apart this tier of football as a 17/18 year old, even in limited minutes. One key goal came against Excelsior, a senior side, where he raced through on goal before rounding the keeper to make a calm finish.
The breakthrough to the senior side came after the arrival of Roger Schmidt, unfortunately timed in March 2020. The Eredivisie was one of the leagues in Europe that cut off its football season after Covid-19 locked Europe down, but Madueke was placed into the first team for the new 2020/21 season.
Under Schmidt’s heavy-pressing 4-2-2-2 system, Madueke was deployed upfront, and to say he was great would be an understatement: He contributed to a goal or assist in the Eredivisie every 73 minutes.
Granted, that’s distorted by his gametime, as in 24 largely substitute appearances, he scored seven and assisted four. Still, the underlying statistics were great, completing 1.6 dribbles p90 and finishing fifth in the league for goals p90.
What made him stand out so much was his agility and directness, as Madueke could tear any defender apart. He also supplemented this with clever movement, no doubt refined in PSV’s youth teams, and quality passing. It wasn’t unusual to see Madueke drop behind the front line and look to fire passes into teammates.
What stands out most from that season though, is how comfortable he was with the physicality of Dutch football. That’s not necessarily a high bar, as neighbouring fans of the Belgian League have labelled the Eredivisie as ‘carpet football’.
Still, it’s quite remarkable to see Madueke back into defenders so willingly, and face them in a barging battle to win the ball.
What happened, and what next?
With Donyell Malen, Denzel Dumfries, and Pablo Rosario all leaving PSV in the summer of 2021, there was room for Madueke to take up the role as the club’s new poster boy. Infact, the stars were aligning early on.
Schmidt’s PSV had been inconsistent in the previous season, but they thumped Ajax 0-4 in the Johan Cruijff Schaal, effectively the Dutch Super Cup, making a statement that they were ready to challenge for the 2021/22 title.. The centre of the victory? Noni Madueke.
He scored the opening two goals in the season curtain raiser, with the first seeing him drive from wide into the heart of a retreating Ajax back four, hitting a shot into the bottom right hand corner.
The second was possibly even better, as Madueke belted in an effort on his right foot with little time to think about it, after cutting past current Manchester United defender Lisandro Martinez like butter. The MOTM award was well earned.
Despite building a great platform for an explosion in form and reputation, Madueke has scored just three goals across league and European football since October 2021. Injuries have well and truly curbed the sharp rise of Madueke stocks.
His most recent setback was an ankle injury picked up in pre-season training for the 22/23 season, and was expected to rule him out until January 2023. He ended up returning just before the break for the World Cup, and thankfully has looked a little sharper.
Madueke’s goal against NEC Nijmegen in October, his first in the league this season, was extremely encouraging even against weak defending. He burst in front of his marker to receive a Cody Gakpo pass in from the right-hand side of the box, and made a quick finish on his weaker right foot.
It summarises Madueke at his best: Quick, direct, and clinical. The issue is, how long can he perform that well with his current rate of injuries?
It’s a question that Chelsea’s medical department will have to answer. In fairness, Madueke has avoided any ACL or achilles injuries, which are the most common killers for a footballer’s career. It’s likely a question that will only be answered when examined up close.
If the doctors give it the green light, perhaps it is worth bringing in Madueke even over the talented Zakharyan, although the Russian is of a more playmaking, less direct profile and also plays as a number 8 or number 10.
If Madueke can rekindle the form that saw him smash the Eredivisie and blow apart Ajax in 2021, then Chelsea might have England’s next star available on their problematic right wing for the next decade.
